Dubai trade exchange with the GCC countries grew an average rate of 10 per cent during the first half of 2010 reaching Dh11 billion as compared to Dh10 billion of the same period last year, WAM reported. Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Executive Chairman of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation and Dubai Customs Director General, stated that the statistics issued by the Statistics Department at Dubai Customs revealed that re-exports with the GCC amounted to Dh4.8bn by the end of the first half of 2010 while exports estimated as Dh2.3bn and the imports at Dh3.7bn. He said that the rise in Dubai trade exchange with the GCC is considered an outcome of the economic integration among countries of the region which is demonstrated in establishing the free trade zone in 1983, followed by the unification of customs in 2003 and the founding of the GCC market in 2008. He added that the growing trade activity among the GCC countries is in line with the aspirations of the GCC leaders who give much attention to achieving economic integration as well as earning profits which benefit the GCC citizens besides benefiting from the huge economic aspects, coherent systems and the private sector in these countries. Saudi Arabia topped the list of trade exchange between Dubai and the GCC with 36 per cent with a value of Dh4bn of the first half of this year. Kuwait came second with Dh2.1bn value of exchange, then Oman with Dh2bn, Qatar with Dh1.6bn and Bahrain Dh1.2bn value of exchange respectively. Non oil trade values exchange between Dubai and the rest of the world increased by 18 percent during the first half of 2010, with more than 279.2 billion dirhams ($76 billion) recorded, as compared to the $64.69 billion recorded over the same period during the previous year. He highlighted the fact that a record high was set at the end of the first half of the year, when compared to the same period in the last five years, reaching $8.93 billion from $6.42 billion in the same period from 2009. Ahmed explained that the total value of Dubai imports from the global markets during the first half of the current year rose to $48.30 billion, an increase of 13 percent from the $42.61 recorded last year. He added that re export operations had increased by 20 percent during the first six months of 2010, at $18.78 billion against $15.65 billion during the same period in 2009.
